Customer Reviews

Polar RS800 Heart Rate Monitor Watch

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have used Polar Heart rate monitors for years and, having become interested in tracking heart rate variability choose to purchase the RS800 so that I could do the analysis.

I'd note that I had the same problem as the other reviewer with Watchsavings, who did not include the IR interface (they claim that Amazon mis-listed the product).

While the watch has excellent features and an easy interface, there's a major problem: the infrared transmission system (used to transfer the data into the computer software) crapped out after 3 weeks and completely stopped working.

Looking over the web, this is not an isolated incident. People are reporting that they get data off the watch for a day or two, a week or two, one friend I have who bought one never go a single piece of data off his watch. I contacted a local running store and their employee told me that she had an identical problem, the watch stopped transferring data after 2 weeks. Polar kept telling her that the problem was on her end until she returned it for a refund.

Polar refuses to address this, they ignore it in their forums and will not answer emails.

This is unacceptable, the features of the watch (namely the heart rate variability) are contingent on getting the data transferred to the computer. That Polar refuses to admit or deal with the problem only makes it worse.

Given that other products can readily make a physical USB interface work, there's no reason for Polar to have gone this route and used a technology that is clearly faulty. This is one top of the fact that Polar decided to use a non-standard USB driver for Windows.

I have since replaced the Polar with the SuuntoT6 which went with a physical (clip) USB interface. While their software is not as good as Polar's at least I can get the data off of the watch.

I will NEVER purchase another Polar product.

Lyle

This watch is perfect!! You can create your own program either with the software or in the watch directly. I did extensive research and this is the best value I found. The watch is well made and I have had no glitch or funny readings as with some of the cheaper watches I have tried like the Mio or Polar's lower brands without coded belt. Speaking of which, the coded belt is comfortable and I have gotten zero interference from all the equipment in the gym or anyone else's hrm. My friends have had this problem with other brands. I spent about 1 1/2 hours reading the manual and playing around and I pretty much can navigate around in the menu with my eyes closed. Best deal I found was from a company which had free shipping and free IRD device..which you need if you want to view your session in the software. I paid $369.

I had to work through three of these before I got one that functioned for any period of time. First one quit second time in pool, second one band fell off. Then, after a year, moisture got inside the cover on the third just as I started to like it. I sold it after that. Three was enough.

So,
problems. the big red button will press itself very easily.
The battery doesn't last,
the foot pod battery doesn't last at all and usually fails to work or sync.
I had the watch repaired 3 times 2 USA and 1 UK.
the strap breaks when you tighten it, so if you run with it tightened the strap will break within a week
each strap is expensive.
The sync requires infrared which is fine now as I have found an old IBM laptop.
the left bottom button is barely working after it came back from repair.
It died on me while running 9 hours up some damn volcano in hawaii for a race. (but 9 hours, I can't complain)

Pros,
it gives you a decent heart rate and that part always works.
It looks good as a watch.
You can customize the Homepage screen on the watch so it tell your GF/wife/partner(what I am bleedin liberal) that you love her
my wife loves that part

I have owned this HRM for almost three years, used it frequently at first, sporadically after a few months.
With several LEDs now dead, it is largely unusable.

In principle, this is a great HRM, with an extensive range of functions.

However, in addition to the poor durability of this expensive device, the following quirks make this a poor choice for a
useful HRM:

* Many functions are buried deep. Combine this with an unintuitive user interface and making use of the functions is a pain without memorizing a sequence of clicks.
* The watch requires applying significant pressure on the buttons, making surfing the levels of functionality challenging during a work out. I gave up after a few months and ended up simply using the heart rate function (not a great deal at close to $400).
* IR transfer simply doesn't work on the Mac.
* The groove on the plastic battery case gets easily frayed, making it increasingly difficult to change the batteries. I now need a 1" wide screwdriver - not a big deal but another annoyance.

I had an older Polar product that worked perfectly and never missed a beat. I had it for 2 years then I wanted to upgrade and bought the RS800CX with the foot pad. It worked on day one but it felt cheap. The big red button didn't always work when pressed. After about a month the battery in the heart strap died. Then a month later the foot pod battery died. Finally after about 6 months the batter in the watch died. Replacing it was a nightmare and after replacing it, it never worked the same. The red button was near impossible to get it to work. In general after spending this kind of money I am horribly disappointed with this watch. I finally ended up buying a Garmin 310xt for my triathlons and have no reason to look back. The Garmin is a far superior watch. The training software is much better than Polar's. If you are even looking at this watch do yourself a favor and buy a Garmin.

My husband enjoyed his RS800 so much, he purchased two more for friends this Christmas.